**Kristen Gentry: Mama Said

The linked stories in Mama Said are set in Louisville, Kentucky, a city with a rich history steeped in tobacco, bourbon, and gambling, indulgences that can quickly become gripping and destructive vices. Set amid the tail end of the crack epidemic and the rise of the opioid crisis, Mama Said evokes Black family life in all its complexity, following JayLynn, along with her cousins Zaria and Angel, as they come of age struggling against their mothers’ drug addictions.

Mama Said separates from the stereotypes of Black families, presenting instead the joy, humor, and love that coexist with the trauma of drug abuse within communities. Kristen Gentry’s stories showcase the wide-reaching repercussions of addiction and the ties that forever bind daughters to their mothers, flaws and all.

“Mama Said is a tough yet tender glimpse into a complex community in a city full of strife and love. The characters contain a depth not often seen in a collection of stories, and readers are sure to be thinking about their lives and relationships long after finishing the last (tear-jerking!) page.” —Maggie Henriksen, Carmichael’s Bookstore

Kristen Gentry is the author of Mama Said, forthcoming from West Virginia University Press in October. She received her MFA from Indiana University. Her award-winning fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Jabberwock Review, and other journals. She is a VONA and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference alumna, was selected to participate in the inaugural cohort of Poets & Writers Get the Word Out Publicity Incubator, and featured in Debutiful. She is currently an associate professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at SUNY Geneseo but will soon relocate to her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky to live, write, and help other black women and girls share their stories. For more information, visit her website at kristengentry.com.

This is a hybrid event held at Writers & Books, 740 University Ave. Rochester, NY and streamed via Zoom.

This event is made possible by the Mary S. Mulligan Charitable Trust and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.